Have You Seen This?

I was wandering in the Blue Nowhere and found a solar assisted heat pump!

I have an old heat pump. It sounds like a jet engine when it turns on or off. I am certain I will have to replace it soon. Sigh.

It sure would be nice to replace the old unit with the solar assisted one. I haven't found info on the cost, yet...but I'm betting it's a wee outside my budget of "Free, or better yet, pay ME to use it!"

Kudos to Lennox for getting into the game.

And hey, Lennox? If you'd like someone to test your product, feel free to e-mail me.

Shh, Be Vewwwwy Quiet, I'm Huntin' a Turkey!

Have you ever read the label on a commercially packaged turkey?

Here's what's in a frozen, whole Butterball Turkey (per their own website - thank you for your honesty on your packaging and for making it easy to find on your site, Butterball!!), a supermarket standard: Turkey (I should hope so!), Water, Salt, Modified Food Starch, Sodium Phosphates, Natural Flavorings.

If you look at any other commercially packaged frozen whole turkey, you are likely to find something similar.

You know what I want in my turkey? Turkey.

That's it. That's the only ingredient I desire.

Have you tried finding a turkey that's just a turkey, of late?

I have.

Good luck with that.

It's not just turkey - plenty of companies who process and package beef, pork, and chicken do it, too. I understand the reasoning behind it - it adds weight which means the consumer pays more, it helps preserve the meat so it will last longer in the cooler, and it ensures that the largely inept consumers buying the stuff won't end up with tough, inedible meals.

I know how to cook, though, and prefer to pay for meat and only meat. I also prefer to buy fresh rather than packaged in plastic, and to season my own meals in my own fashion. I don't want a turkey that has been injected with chemicals that I don't need in my body. I have been roasting these things since I was a teen, and haven't have a dry one yet...and if I should screw it up enough to dry it out, that's what gravy is for. I know how to make that, too, but if I didn't it comes in a jar or powder packet for my convenience (I weep for future generations that grow up on that stuff, though...it's just wrong).

I didn't have the money to order an heirloom, pastured, organic, not genetically altered or manipulated, honest to goddess turkey from Slanker's this year...dang it...but I'm determined to do my best to find a non-injected, non-flavor enhanced bird to feed my family for Thanksgiving...so tomorrow, I am going to hunt turkey like all modern hunter-gatherers...I'm going to stalk the meat departments of every grocery store I can find.

Wish me luck.